Jacqueline Smith: The smackdown for governor

Published 10:01 am, Monday, March 27, 2017

“We need to pull back from winners and losers and instead help build the workforce.”

“We’re too small a state to have so many broken relationships.”

“We can’t be dumping costs onto municipalities.”

If my eyes had been closed at our editorial board meeting Wednesday afternoon, I might have thought we were across the table from state Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano, the leading critic of the Malloy administration.

Right now, the economic development department performs its own evaluation — once every three years. We’re one of only two states to do it that way, Lembo told us.

It would seem the only resistance to such a mechanism for accountability of state tax dollars would be over turf. But last year when a similar bill passed the House and Senate, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy vetoed it.

Not surprised by the question, he nonetheless demurred that a “preliminary decision” — meaning forming an exploratory committee — would come this spring.

Although the gubernatorial election is more than a year away, now is the time for seekers to not be shy about their intentions. It takes that much time to build a campaign structure — like rewiring a house, Lembo said — and to raise money. To be eligible for matching funds, a candidate has to raise $250,000 in donations no greater than $100.

This part of politics is fascinating. It’s like filling in the brackets for a Governor’s Championship, stretching out March Madness until we can’t stand it any longer.

Wouldn’t this be an interesting match — Lembo, a likeable, wonkish Democrat vs. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, a personable, get-the-job-done Republican? Godzilla vs King Kong? Nah, more like the Battle of the 53-year-olds.

Boughton formed his exploratory committee — the “Connecticut Comeback Committee” — in November and hired an experienced finance director and a well-placed Republican operative. This would be a third run for Boughton, an eight-term, longest-serving, mayor of the seventh largest city in the state.

A former high school history teacher, Boughton got a taste for state government as a state representative before becoming mayor. A tweet master, he’s popular with young people. And for a politician, he’s a bit unconventional: He invited supporters to come to his apartment at Kennedy Place next Sunday to watch the seventh season finale of his favorite show, “The Walking Dead.”

Lembo is no political lightweight either. He became the state’s first Healthcare Advocate in 2004 and comptroller with the new administration in 2011. He has made the office activist, with a mission for transparency. He launched several state transparency websites and won a prestigious award from the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information in 2013. He’s bucked Malloy on state loans to hedge funds.

Eight politicians have filed their exploratory committees, without naming the office, with the state already — seven Republicans and one Democrat.

Among the Republicans, besides Boughton, are reasonably well-known names: state Sen. Tony Hwang, whose district includes Newtown; Trumbull First Selectman Timothy Herbst, and former 4th Congressional District candidate Steve Obsitnik. Former state Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, who lost the Republican primary for governor in 2014, is mentioned as a possible candidate. (He’s another 53-year-old.)

The only Democrat, so far, to file an exploratory committee is Dan Drew, the three-term mayor of Middletown and a 1998 graduate of New Milford High School. Jacey Wyatt, a former model from Branford, is the only declared Democratic candidate.

Democrats might hesitate because Malloy has yet to announce whether he will run for a third term. In January, he said he would decide “some number of days or months” after getting the budget out.

Lembo knows he can’t wait for the governor to decide. His words on winners and losers in economic development, broken relationships (with hospitals) and costs pushed onto municipalities make that clear.